


Unexpected

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Compare and Contrast, Compatibility, Developing Friendships, Falling In Love, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Late Night Conversations, Missing Scene, Pre-Relationship, Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28088604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Credence joined the Circus Arcanus to actively search for his mother, for someone who knows who and what he was.He never thought that he would fall in love with a woman he had hardly spoken to.
Relationships: Credence Barebone & Nagini





	Unexpected

**Author's Note:**

> I never thought I'd be writing Harry Potter fics but here I am. I just really love Credence and Fantastic Breasts that I just couldn't help myself. I've been working on this fic for literal years, so long ago that I don't remember the original concept of the fic anymore, and even though I'm not too thrilled with it, I'm sick of looking at it, so I hope you enjoy.

He hadn't meant to fall in love with her. In fact, when they met, he hadn't even expected to like her, but they were both wayward souls wanted by nobody who had found their way to the circus of freaks. It wasn't a great place to be, but they had a roof over their heads and were fed at every mealtime, which was more than some people got.

She was shy and quiet and invisible unless she was important, but so was he. During his breaks, Credence would watch her stare at herself in the mirror, running her tiny hands down her sides, her hips, her arms. He could sense a kinship with her, an all-consuming sorrow that festered deep in their bones and hid beneath a barely collected facade. He didn't watch for long, lest he was caught.

While Credence was only the lowly help, when he had a free moment between caring for the creatures and tidying the tents and readying the circus behind the scenes for the crowd's arrival, he had a chance to admire the performances. The twins were always nice to him, and their acts were always fun. Borys the Brute was not so fun, and he helped Credence recognize that the thought of anyone poking around in his mind was sickening. He never watched for a very long time. He had things to do.

So far, he'd never found the time in his busy schedule to watch Nagini's performance. He was sure it was just as magical as the other performances. There was always loud gasps and hushed conversations and Skender always said that she was one of his best acts. 

But Credence joined the Circus Arcanus to actively search for his mother, for someone who knows who and what he was.

He never thought that he would fall in love with a woman he had hardly spoken to.

From what he could tell, she was a lot like him in many ways. They both seemed to be searching for purpose and had joined the circus for a place to belong despite their jobs being distasteful. They both contained some dark secret and something unwanted nestled in their bones. Credence's job was nasty and dirty behind the scenes, tending to the creatures, but hers was just as bad despite being in the spotlight. 

Even though he barely knew her and had exchanged only a few words to her, she was often by his side, and he appreciated it. She would gently prod him with a hand on his back when he froze like a dear in headlights when walking down the street. She would join him at the store when he was sent for supplies for the creatures with a basket over her arm. She would offer to help when he cleaned the pens and fed the beasts, but under Skender's watchful eye, he knew better than to accept.

Her touch was electrified. When she smiled at him, he felt warm. Her kindness was like treacle, sweet and addicting. Her voice was like wind chimes. Her friendship was like leisure, forbidden. It had been so long since he had experienced any of those things that a tiny notion was like air to a drowning man.

But not everything was always as it seemed, and sometimes what looked golden was tarnished underneath.

Once, late at night, when everyone was asleep and he was supposed to be washing the creatures, he pulled apart the curtain that separated her tent from the rest of the circus, quietly peaking closer so he could wish her goodnight, only to see her sitting on the edge of the bed, breathing shallowly, curled up in herself. 

Credence wanted to call out to her, to ask if she was alright when without warning, her entire body contorted and bent in an impossible degree, and her body split and swelled and she suddenly became a writhing dark mass on the bed.

A dark shape curled up on the threadbare blanket, thick and ropey and shining under the candlelight. A gasp must have escaped his lips, as lightning-quick, the mass stilled suddenly and a pointed head turned to look at him, gripping the bars with white-knuckles, and darted beneath the bed.

Two beady, intelligent eyes stared at him from the darkness. He had a feeling that its gaze seemed tormented, almost. 

A heavy hand landed harshly on his shoulder, thick fingers digging into his skin and bones. "What are you doing here, boy?"

Normally, he would have feared the man's presence and what it would mean, but right now, Credence was purely fascinated by the slithering, curled up creature under the bed. "What- what _is_ that?"

Skender followed his gaze through the rusting metal bars to the room beyond and the creature that laid within. "Ah, I see you've finally encountered the snake," he said in his deep, rumbling voice. "A fair maiden, cursed each night to transform into a vile viper until she awakes one day unable to turn back into her human self, and she is forced to live the rest of her days as a serpent."

Credence couldn't stop staring at those shining eyes watching him from under the bed. "I thought that was a tale you told your audience. The snake. It's... is it Nagini?"

"Yes," Skender said, almost reverently. "Yes, that's Nagini. The maledictus."

Dimly, Credence recalled seeing her name on the advertising poster for the Circus Arcanus, but he never would have expected that the maledictus was Nagini. "That's terrible," he breathed. 

Skender hummed in agreement. "I couldn't imagine a worse fate. Having to live my life with a vile thing like that residing just beneath my skin," abruptly, he slapped Credence on the back of the head. "Now get back to work. You've still got a very hungry hippogryph to tend to."

As Skender reached across and pulled the curtain shut, Credence couldn't tear his gaze away from the eyes peering out from the darkness.

But while Skender couldn't begin to imagine what that was like, Credence knew all too well how it felt to live in constant fear of uncertain darkness and an unknown future weighing heavy over their heads. They were both the hosts of something frightening, both forced to face their own unstoppable force, both cursed to live with their unknown repulsiveness. 

He hadn't expected to find someone so like him in the circus when he joined it.

One night, a week after he had witnessed her transform, Credence ensured that Skender had drunk enough whiskey to keep him snoring for many hours, reclining in a rickety wooden seat, he sat on the ground outside the bars of Nagini's room shortly before the sun had set, the curtain pushed slightly aside. "Nagini?" He called softly, facing the darkness of another curtain. "Nagini?"

After a tense moment, the curtains pulled apart and Nagini sat on the floor behind the bars, her legs tucked beneath her. "What do you want, Credence?"

He had never been very good at talking to people or holding conversations, but just this once, he could try. "I saw you the other night. You were... a snake." he probably could have started this conversation another way. A better way. "Skender called you a maledictus."

"I know you saw it. I had wanted to keep it a secret for as long as I could, but I should have known that my bad luck would continue," she shook her head, her hair shifting with the movement. "I hoped at least one person in this foul circus wouldn't know about it."

"I'm sorry," he said honestly. "I've never seen your act before. It was an honest mistake. I didn't realize."

"You apologise an awful lot," she said, unusually sharp. "Why did you peek, hm? What did you expect to gain?"

This conversation was getting worse and worse as time went on. He lowered his head. "I grew up with sisters. We weren't as close as we could have been, but I love them, and I miss them. You looked like you had a bad day. When my sisters had bad days, they appreciated a hug and a kiss goodnight when our mother wasn't looking. I thought you might appreciate that too. I don't know."

She was looking at him intently, and he averted his gaze. "Your sisters," she said. "What were their names?"

"Modesty," he replied. "And Chastity. Barebone."

He could practically see the wheels turning in her head. "And... Credence Barebone?"

"Yeah," he glanced away. "That's me."

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence between them, broken only by Skender's drunken snoring and the many, constant sounds of the numerous beasts. He was beginning to think that initiating this conversation was an awkward mistake.

He glanced back up when she brushed a tangled clump of hair behind her hair and quietly cleared her throat. "I heard what Skender said about me, you know. How he couldn't bear the thought of living with a curse that changed him and forced him to live with something dark and foreign beneath his skin. And he's right. He wouldn't bear it. Nobody could."

"I'm cursed," he blurted without thinking. She tilted her head quizzically. "I'm not a maledictus but I'm... something else. I understand how you feel to fear this _thing_ inside of you, even if Skender doesn't."

The sharp look had left her gaze and she now looked him over curiously. "What are you, then?"

"I'm not too sure. I haven't known about magic for very long," he said. "I heard some wizards call me an obscurial."

"An obscurial?" she said. "You should be dead. They're rare, and they don't survive past childhood. Or so I've heard."

"So I've been told," he replied.

"I was wondering why your name sounded so familiar," she said. "I thought M.A.C.U.S.A destroyed your obscurus."

"It didn't... the obscurus and I are the same. I _am_ the obscurus. They didn't do anything that day but hurt me badly and teach me that wizards can't be trusted," he rubbed his hands over his boney, calloused fingers. "So I'm the last person who's ever going to judge you for something out of your control."

She looked past him to where Skender was snoring, tossing and turning in the wooden chair, muttering drunkenly, the bottle having slipped through his fingers and landed on the floor. She wore a look of deep disdain as she looked at the ringleader. "They call us both monsters. But you're not a monster. You might be the nicest person I've met in a long time."

"You're not a monster either, despite the narrative that Skender tries to sell to the audience," he said. She smiled and it was a beautiful sight. It made her whole face light up. She looked younger.

The two-headed child began to cry, and Credence watched one of the firebreathing twins rush across and hush him. "What are you doing here, Credence?" she asked quietly. "What do you really want? I can't imagine you applied for a place just to be cleaning animals."

Credence took a deep breath. "I want... I want to find my mother. I want to know who I am, who I _really_ am before I was Credence Barebone or the obscurus. I want to know where I came from and how I ended up in that orphanage, and I think that finding the woman who gave me away would give me some answers."

She smiled, slightly. "That makes more sense than the story you gave Skender when he hired you."

"Why don't you come with me?" He asked before he could stop himself. She went very still. "You don't like it here, and neither do I. We could run away. You and me. Together."

"Why would you take me with you?" She shook her head. "I don't even know you. Why would you endanger yourself like that for a woman you barely speak to?"

"Because we're both monsters," he insisted. "And my sisters taught me that if we don't have each other then we have no one. Come with me. What have you got to lose?"

Her laugh was as unexpected as it was lovely, and she reached through the bars between them to place a tentative hand lightly on his knee. He resisted the screaming urge to pull away. "You are... a very strange man, Mr. Credence. But in a good way," she smiled. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you before we run away together."

"The uh, the feeling is mutual," he felt a blush spread across his face, and he had to glance away, down to where her thumb gently caressed the fabric of his pants. "Miss. Nagini."

And maybe that was the most unexpected thing of all.


End file.
